Musical cards and other battery-operated musical flotsam that show up this time of year start sounding pretty sad as the battery wears out.  We have this annoying musical door mat that plays ‘Up on the Housetop’ when stepped on, but takes some obscure-sized watch battery that I’m not going to invest in anytime soon and so it’s sounding really sad now.  What it needs is a new song with a naturally lower key pitch and slower pace.  An infrequent sampling of the battery voltage should be good enough to tell the processor what to do next.  I’m thinking it starts with ‘Carol of the Bells,’ then transitions to ‘Silent Night,’ then ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ and by Good Friday, it plays ‘Even the Heavens are Weeping,’ a horrid dirge of a hymn only sung on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday.  Near the end of battery life it could do the ‘Volga Boat Song’ or "Daisy."
-- RayfordSteele, Dec 12 2024

Gratuitous only vaguely related idea ... _22Mom_20and_20Dad_...is_20is_20Chasey_22
[normzone, Dec 12 2024]

[+] Unfortunately the slower a tune is the lower the frequency range (usually). Bass and lower notes take much more power that tweets, beeps, and chirps. To really save battery power the frequency range of the next tune should be higher and higher. Eventually all that can be played is something from the Mario Brothers early works.
-- minoradjustments, Dec 12 2024


Chipmunk songs have some staying power as the player wears out.

Please invent some dielectric playdough that can be stuffed into a battery slot that works long enough to get through a couple of weeks. I think I've spent $200 on enough 389, 390, 392, 1141, and 357 to reup holiday noisemakers and twinkle lights, over my objection.
-- reensure, Dec 12 2024


What's that science fiction story where a mistreated story-telling toy predicts a robot revolution?
-- Voice, Dec 12 2024



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